Water aerator



Dec. 11, 1962 E. P. AG HNlDES 3,067,953

WATER AERATOR Filed Nov. 14, 1960 vmm s INVENTOR Elie P. AghnidesATTORNEYS United States Patent ()fiice 3,067,953 Patented Dec. 11, 19623,067,953 WATER AERATOR Elie P. Aghnides, 46 W. 54th St., New York 19,N.Y. Filed Nov. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 69,162 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-432) Thisinvention relates to water aerators and more particularly to aerators ofthe general type shown in my prior U.S. Patents No. 2,210,846, grantedAugust 6, 1940, and No. 2,316,832, granted April 20, 1943. The aeratorsof the aforesaid prior patents comprise a diaphragm hav ing one or moresmall orifices to deliver streamlets of water having substantialvelocity and one or more wire mesh screens downstream said diaphragm,air being emitted through an orifice leading to a space between thediaphragm and the screen. The size of the opening or openings in thediaphragm is so related to the resistance of the screens that a largenumber of bubbles are entrained in the screen and a white coherent jetof aerated water emerges from the outlet of the aerator.

Aerators of the prior art usually project their aerated output in astream of constant direction. It is an object of this invention toprovide an aerator in which the stream may be moved and/or rotated inorder that the user of the aerator may direct the bubbly stream anywherein the sink and, if desired, move a part of the aerator so that thestream washes the surface of the entire sink.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as thisdescription proceeds.

The lower end of the aerator preferably employs a ball and socketarrangement whereby the aerated jet may be directed at any part of thesink by merely moving the lower part of the aerator.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior copendingapplication Serial No. 673,017, filed July 19, 1957, entitled WaterAerators now abandoned.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of one form of the invention.

FIGURE 1A is a plan view of one of the screens of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1B is a side view of certain details of the upstream diaphragmsof FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 1 illustrates the preferred form of the invention. It employs arubber element for engaging the faucet in a manner similar to that shownin any aforesaid prior Patent 2,316,832. This rubber body 40 has aninternal circular groove 41 into which a pair of dished upstream discs42 and 43 are seated. The orifices in disc 42 are out of alignment withthe orifices in disc 43 whereby water passing through the disc 43 moveslaterally before it passes out of an orifice in disc 43.

Water emerges from the disc 43 in the form of high velocity streamletsand impinges upon mixing means in the form of screen 44 where it isfinely broken up and mixed with air, whereby the white coherent bubblyjet emerges from the outlet end of the aerator. Two screens 44 and 45are shown. These screens are similar in construction and mode ofoperation and a typical one of them is shown in FIGURE 1A. The screenhas a series of four lateral corrugations 46. When the aerator isassembled, the corrugations 46 of screen 44 rest on the top surface ofscreen 45. In order to secure maximum resistance, a corrugation ofscreen 45 may be perpendicular to the direction of the corrugations ofscreen 44. As shown in the left side of FIGURE 1A, the corrugations maynot extend clear to the edges of the screen or they may extend clearfrom one edge to the other, as shown by the right half in FIGURE 1A.Therefore, the corrugations may terminate short of both edges of thescreen or they may extend to both edges of the screen as desired. Thesescreens are mounted in a part-spherical only ball 47 rotatable in apart-spherical only socket 48. This enables the direction of the outputjet to be varied at the selection of the user. If desired, the ball 47may be rotated manually by continuous motion to direct the outlet streamthroughout the sink and thus clean the entire sink surface. Groove 48a,in socket 48 contains a resilient open ring 48b which presses on andthereby retains ball 47 in socket 48.

The ball 47 includes narrow grooves 49 projecting from the downstreamend thereof between the main body of the ball 47 and the socket 48whereby air may enter into the space between the diaphragm 43 and thescreen 44.

The particular arrangement of holes in the curves discs 42 and 43 arepreferably such that the holes in the upper disc are out of alignmentwith the holes in the lower disc. Even better results are obtained bydisposing the holes in the upper and lower discs so that a hole in theupper disc overlaps only a fraction of a hole in the lower disc; andthis is especially the case when the spacing between the two discs isless than one millimeter. An example of this improvement feature isillustrated in FIGURE 1B wherein a portion of each of the two discs 42and 43 and of typical holes in these two discs is illustrated. In theaforesaid arrangement of FIGURE 1B the space between discs 42 and 43 isflooded with water and no air enters therein, especially since theperipheries of the discs are sealed to the casing. The distance S ispreferably in the order of 0.50 millimeter. While a great number ofvariants of the relationship and size of the holes of the two discs maygive good results, one arrangement which will produce excellent resultsis as follows: Each of discs 42 and 43 has three circular rows of holes,with 20 holes in the outer row, 14 holes in the middle row and six holesin the inner row. The holes in the outer row of the upper diaphragm arepreferably disposed in a circle 17.5 mm. in diameter; the holes in themiddle row are disposed in a circle of 12 mm. in diameter; and the holesin the inner row are disposed in a circle of 6.5 mm. diameter. The holesin the upper disc are preferably 0.9 mm. diameter and the holes in thelower disc are preferably 0.8 mm. diameter.

The modified form of FIGURE 2 sets forth certain variations in theswivel means, and the upstream disc and the downstream screens are shownconventionally. Otherwise, the structure of FIGURE 2 is intended to bethe same as FIGURE 1. The member 47 includes a number of ribs 50projecting from a part-spherical portion thereof. The ribs 50 cover theintervening space between the casing 40 and the part-spherical member47, producing a universal joint allowing a swivel action, whilepermitting air to enter between the ribs 50. In place of the downstreamair inlet 52, or in addition thereto, there may be air inlets 53 alongthe side wall of casing 40.

In all of the aforesaid forms of the invention, the upstream diaphragmsare so proportioned to the downstream screens that one or more jets ofwater from the upstream diaphragms impinge upon the downstream screensproducing a coherent jet laden with numerous small bubbles. Theresulting stream is whitish in color and non-splash in itscharacteristics, and is an improved version of the output streamdescribed in my aforesaid prior patents.

I claim to have invented:

1. In a water aerator, a casing adapted to be connected to a faucetsupplying water under pressure, means in said casing generally adjacentthe end connected to said faucet for producing an increase in thevelocity of the water admitted to said casing, said casing having apart-spherical only socket element at its downstream end, apartspherical only rotatable element mounted rotatably in said socketelement and having a circular passageway therein for the discharge ofsaid aerated stream, and mixing means positioned within said circularpassageway, at least one of said elements providing at least one airpassageway between said partly spherical socket element and said partlyspherical rotatable element to provide for the admittance of air fromthe atmosphere to the space upstream of said mixing means, whereby saidbubbleladen discharge stream of water may be directed as desired byrotation of said partly spherical member in said partly sphericalsocket.

2. In a water aerator as defined in claim 1, said socket elementsdefining said air passageway along the outer wall of the rotatableelement and extending from the extreme downstream end of the socketelement to said space.

3. In a water aerator as defined in claim 1, said socket 4 elementdefining a hole through its side wall upstream the rotatable element toprovide said air passageway from the outside air through the hole andthereafter in the space between elements which is upstream the rotatableelement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,197,667 Shook Apr. 16, 1940 2,244,280 Aghnides June 3, 1941 2,316,832Aghnides Apr. 20, 1943 2,633,343 Aghnides Mar. 31, 1953 2,641,365Lundeen June 9, 1953 2,770,446 Aghnides Nov. 13, 1956 2,774,584 AghnidesDec. 18, 1956 2,787,452 Aghnides Apr. 2, 1957 2,998,930 Aghnides Sept.5,

